Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

County reverses decision over free rent

An impassioned Commissioner Myrna Williams reluctantly convinced colleagues to reverse their decision of two weeks ago to donate the county's community room to a nonprofit Jewish organization for a one-day event.

But the dispute over the commission's four-month-old rental policies and rates for groups wanting to use the $66 million Clark County Government Center is far from over.

Williams said Tuesday it may not have been wise to waive the $1,129 rental fee for the Jerusalem 3000 celebration on April 28 since it sparked a stampede of calls from other nonprofit groups seeking free rent of county space.

"I have never been afraid to say I was perhaps wrong," Williams said before the board voted 5-1 to reverse itself. "The response ... from every group in town to use the government center for free was overwhelming."

Other commissioners had also voiced concerns about showing favoritism to some groups, and newspaper editorials blasted the earlier decision as setting a bad precedent. But Commissioner Jay Bingham voted against repealing the waiver.

"I don't care what any editorial says, I think it's right, a good group, and I'm going to support it," Bingham said. "I don't care what the news media says."

Williams had recommended the waiver for the event, a celebration of the capital of three major world religions, because she saw it as something that would unite Clark County.

"I felt it was a very unique situation, one that would occur every thousand years," Williams said. "Every night you hear on television about these hate groups, this thing in Montana, devised to divide us and exploit our differences. The push to divide us is growing.

"And while this is being sponsored by a Jewish (group), it's a multicultural, all-denomination endeavor. I saw this as an event that would bring Clark County together, make us aware of all these bonds we share, not the differences between us."

Williams then presented a check for the rent that she said came from a "Christian gentleman" who asked for anonymity. She said the man believed the event sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas and the Jewish Community Center was worthy.

Meanwhile, the issue of charging rent for nonprofit groups has yet to be resolved. In a related measure, the board agreed to continue charging the current rates so staff can evaluate whether the fees are reasonable.

"These rates are comparable, if not less than other public jurisdictions for nonprofit events," administrative services director Terry Murphy said.

Rates for private use run from $100 an hour for a reception of 100 people or less to $2,129 for an eight-hour block with 200-400 participants.

Nonprofit rates are generally half the private rates.

Murphy said the rent is needed to offset the costs of security, maintenance and housekeeping.

That's no consolation to Stop DUI Executive Director Sandy Heverly, who's upset about having to pay any rent at all after nearly six years of receiving free use of the county chambers.

Since March, the county has required her group to pay $124 for the two-hour Victim Impact Panel meetings it holds twice a month in the county chambers. That comes to $248 a month, or $2,976 a year -- higher if the meetings go over the usual two-hour time limit, Heverly said.

The group contracts with the courts for the service, and charges $25 a head for offenders who are mandated to attend the program, Heverly said. With an average attendance of 140-150 people, that's almost $4,000 a meeting the agency makes.

"That's the major source of income for our organization," Heverly said. That covers office space, salaries, plane and hotel costs for victim speakers, food and other financial assistance to DUI victim families, she said.

Heverly said some people may see the rent as reasonable, but she equates it to the services her organization can provide victims of DUI offenders.

"That amount could provide two coffins, nine urns, three, four months rent, utilities and food, air fares, hotel rooms, rental cars for tourist victims," she said.

Murphy said the county has offered to help Stop DUI find cheaper lodgings at the older Clark County Courthouse, which already has 24-hour security and costs less to maintain.

Murphy said the board could leave rates as they are, or set aside some amount of funding to allow nonprofit groups to use the government center rent-free on a first-come, first-served basis, as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority does.

Commissioner Paul Christensen said the rental rates should be as inexpensive as possible, "because, after all, this building belongs to the citizens of Clark County."

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